Double or Nothing: Sin City Collectors, #3

By Kristen Painter

Welcome to Las Vegas, home of the Sin City Collectors. The job description is easy: Bring the offending supernatural in to the Boss and don’t ask any questions.

Gage Hudson is a vampire on a mission. All he wants—all he’s ever wanted—is to locate the vampire who killed his brother and exact his revenge. Even if that means losing his job as a Gotham City Collector. And he knows what loss feels like, because his desire for revenge has already cost him the love of his life.

Sin City Collector and pixie Minka Winslow has revenge fantasies of her own and they all involve Gage. When he walked out on her with no explanation, she took the heat for the Collection he ruined. Fortunately for him, she’s put that part of her life behind her.

At least until the two are forced to work together to stay alive. When an enemy from their past returns to threaten them, they have no choice but to reconcile long enough to survive. Then new information changes everything. Just how much will they gamble to make things work this time?

What’s Collected in Vegas, stays in Vegas...

*All Sin City Collectors Novellas are stand alone novellas, all set within the world of the SCC. Our goal is for you to sit back and enjoy the ride as each author presents their unique story. The world of the Sin City Collectors is big. Places and characters will overlap, so be sure to look for your favorites and stay tuned for more novellas!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristen Painter
• Release date: Jan 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781941695043

Book preview

Double or Nothing

DOUBLE OR NOTHING

A Sin City Collectors Novella

Kristen Painter

This fun, fresh series ups the ante and takes you on a wild ride you won’t forget! Clever, fast-paced, flirty—Viva Las Vegas!

~ Gena Showalter, NYT Best Selling Author

Welcome to Las Vegas, home of the Sin City Collectors. The job description is easy: Bring the offending supernatural in to the Boss and don’t ask any questions.

Gage Hudson is a vampire on a mission. All he wants—all he’s ever wanted—is to locate the vampire who killed his brother and exact his revenge. Even if that means losing his job as a Gotham City Collector. And he knows what loss feels like, because his desire for revenge has already cost him the love of his life.

Sin City Collector and pixie Minka Winslow has revenge fantasies of her own and they all involve Gage. When he walked out on her with no explanation, she took the heat for the Collection he ruined. Fortunately for him, she’s put that part of her life behind her.

At least until the two are forced to work together to stay alive. When an enemy from their past returns to threaten them, they have no choice but to reconcile long enough to survive. Then new information changes everything. Just how much will they gamble to make things work this time?

What’s Collected in Vegas, stays in Vegas…

*All Sin City Collectors Novellas are stand alone novellas, all set within the world of the SCC. Our goal is for you to sit back and enjoy the ride as each author presents their unique story. The world of the Sin City Collectors is big. Places and characters will overlap, so be sure to look for your favorites and stay tuned for more novellas!

DOUBLE OR NOTHING: A Sin City Collectors Novella

Copyright © 2014 Kristen Painter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

ISBN: 978-1-941695-04-3

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Chapter1

Even from two stories below, the tinny clink of the mail slot opening and closing roused Gage Hudson from sleep. He sat up in bed, the sheets sliding off as he tensed, ready to attack, but no further noise came, just the usual sounds of the city going about its day outside his brownstone.

He left the bed and headed downstairs to the foyer. The house’s dark interior was no obstacle to his vampire eyes. A note card lay on the floor near the locked door. He picked it up, inhaling for any trace of the person who’d pushed it through the mail slot, but there was nothing unusual.

He turned it over. Scratchy, near-illegible handwriting marred the card’s ivory surface.

Willem Gage Hudson. No one ever used his full name. I have found the one you seek. A time and address followed.

Everything in Gage shut down as an image of Spenser Blackwell overwhelmed his thoughts. The vilest of all vampires, Spenser took what he wanted and didn’t care who paid the price. One of those who’d paid, and paid dearly, had been Caleb, Gage’s brother. And all because in another life and time, when the three of them had been newly turned and high on power, Gage had bedded the girl Spenser had wanted for his own.

A foolish decision. One he’d spent the last two hundred years wishing he could undo.

Gage frowned at the memory and the note. He had no idea who’d sent the card, but that didn’t matter. He’d follow any thread that might take him to Blackwell.

The address was in Las Vegas. What were the odds Blackwell would show up in Gage’s old stomping grounds? But then Blackwell had to be somewhere. He certainly wasn’t in New York. None of Gage’s leads here had amounted to anything.

He checked the mantel clock. Almost noon. No wonder why he felt like he was wading through quicksand. Still, that was plenty of time for him to make travel arrangements. If he booked a red-eye for this evening, he could arrive in Vegas before sunup tomorrow. He’d have to take care of all his own arrangements there, too, since this wasn’t an agency job, but he still had plenty of connections in Vegas.

The dull ache along his gum line reminded him he needed to feed, but the memories of Blackwell had ruined his appetite. Besides, a bag of blood from the cold storage just wasn’t the same as tapping a vein, even though that was all he’d allowed himself lately. There were places in Vegas he could visit when he arrived, places that would supply him with a willing donor.

Actually, there were places in Vegas that would send a donor to his suite once he was checked in. Agencies in Manhattan would do that, too, but he’d kept away from those services on purpose after finding out that some donors had a tendency to get attached. The last thing he wanted was some kind of relationship entanglement. The delivery service he used kept him fed. That was all he needed. For now.

Gage walked back up to his room, sat on the edge of the bed and flicked the card against his thigh. Vegas. The memories of his days there as a Sin City Collector were bittersweet. Living here in New York, the city he’d grown up in, and working for the Gotham City Collectors had its own challenges, but Vegas had been an especially delicious kind of crazy.

Mostly because of the woman he’d left behind.

How did he go to Vegas without seeing her? He almost laughed. That assumed she’d want to see him, which was highly unlikely since he’d walked away and left her without a word after…everything that had gone down. He’d had no other choice.

It also assumed she was still in Vegas, still working as a Collector herself.

She probably was, but things could have changed since the last bit of intel he’d received. The Collectors, no matter what city they worked out of, had a grapevine of their own. Every once in a while, he’d heard her name, maybe a detail or two of a Collection she’d been on, but not much else. Like if she was seeing anyone, or even married, for that matter.

The possibility of either darkened his mood further.

Whatever her status, there was no way she’d want to see him. Was there? No, probably not. Damn it, he’d screwed the pooch hard on that one. He shoved a hand through his hair and growled softly. To say he missed Minka was an understatement. He hadn’t been involved with another woman since. Maybe being alone was his penance for what he’d done to her, for being the reason they weren’t together anymore.

He knew she’d felt betrayed, but he’d had no other option. His brother or the woman he loved? He just hadn’t realized then how much he’d loved her.

With a deep sigh, he lay back on the bed and stared into the dark. It was common courtesy for an incoming Collector to give the local branch a heads up if they were going to be in the area, but this wasn’t exactly an on-the-books Collection. And as much as he wanted to see Minka, to finally get the chance to explain, he didn’t need the SCC breathing down his neck.

A quick in and out. Find Blackwell and do whatever was necessary to make him spill the location of Caleb’s remains. Then Gage could give his brother a proper burial and be back in New York City, ready for his next Collection, before anyone was the wiser.

Including the woman who still held his heart.

scene

Minka Winslow studied the hand-painted playing card that had been delivered to her only a few hours ago. The card wasn’t unusual in and of itself. That’s how headquarters sent out Collection information, and in all her days as a Sin City Collector, she’d never gotten mission information any other way. The Boss was quirky that way.

This card just seemed…different. The painting looked a little sloppy. Rushed. It might just be the urgency of the job.

Or maybe she should call her handler. A quick check of the time showed she was five minutes early for the meet. She’d give it ten more. She leaned against the stucco wall, shoved the card into the back pocket of her jeans and tried to wait with a little more patience. She tugged her leather jacket tighter and wrinkled her nose. The alley behind the laundromat smelled of fabric softener and urine.

A noise to her left put her on guard. Someone was coming. She flattened against the wall, her hand instantly going to the blade at her hip. It might just be a street person, but she liked to err on the side of caution.

The figure, a man, put his hands up as he came toward her. His right elbow stayed tucked to his side, holding a small package under his arm. The small, padded envelope looked like it held something long and not too bulky. Are you Minka? I was supposed to look for a hot blonde. He grinned, revealing a missing molar. You’re definitely hot.

This must be her contact. Regardless, her hand stayed on the blade’s hilt and she ignored his comment. Yes. Who are you?

Just the deliveryman. He put his hands down and nudged his oddly clean Blue Moon Casino trucker hat up before carefully offering her the package. This is for you. His grin stayed in place, but his eyes traveled over her in a way that made her want to shower.

What is it?

He shrugged and lifted the package a little higher. Like I said, I’m just the deliveryman, pretty lady.

"Who hired you to deliver it?" She let him keep holding the package.

Some guy with deep pockets. Said he knew you could help him. The man